Chapter 38

He sat on the sofa, looking down at a light screen, studying who knew what.

Xu Qingran took a quick shower and changed into clean clothes before going out with him.

For once, Shen Tingyu wasn't wearing his formal, luxurious faction uniform. He had on a simple long-sleeved shirt and understated dark trousers, but his model-like figure still made the outfit look noble.

He drove a two-person flying shuttle out of the garage. Xu Qingran took the copilot's seat and noticed that the interior was a little different from the one he had used at the Xu Family home.

He was hesitating over whether to ask when the man in the pilot's seat said, "It's fine. I can handle it myself."

With that, he settled back in his seat without a second thought. After a moment, he decided to be polite and say, "Sorry for the trouble."

Shen Tingyu smiled and chuckled softly, accepting his thanks.

Their first stop was Grandis Secondary School, which was closer.

Before Shen Tingyu's vehicle reached the school gates, his communicator started beeping again.

Xu Qingran wasn't so particular that he needed to be dropped off at the gate, so he had Shen Tingyu stop the flying vehicle at a designated elevated platform and got out on his own.

Because flying vehicles were so widespread in this world, towns and cities had tall structures resembling subway stations. Metal platforms extended from them in four or five tiers, allowing flying vehicles to stop briefly. Elevators, escalators, and other facilities at the exits allowed pedestrians to travel up and down.

Xu Qingran took the elevator down and boarded a tram on the ground floor, heading straight for his destination.

The new semester hadn't started yet, so there weren't many people around the school. Most were graduates who, like him, had been called back to collect their belongings. He brought out the system and, with its obedient guidance, found the academic affairs office.

Very few teachers were on duty either. A female teacher who looked somewhat senior recognized him at once and pointed to a counter in the corner. "Qingran, your things are all over there. Take whatever you want, or they'll be thrown out at the end of the month."

Xu Qingran walked over and found his nameplate in the farthest corner.

A pile of things had been placed behind it: trophies the school had awarded him for academic excellence, certificates for being the best in several subjects, and many handmade artworks. Sculptures, models, paintings, and more had all won awards of one kind or another.

Unfortunately, most of the artworks had been deliberately damaged.

The ceramic sculptures had been broken apart, the exquisite paintings maliciously defaced, and several certificates torn up.

He picked up the one that had suffered the least damage. It was a colored drawing of a man resting his chin on one hand and turning to look out a window. Perhaps because of who the man in the picture was, the front had, unusually, been spared any scribbling, though plenty of mocking words had been written on the back.

Xu Qingran stared at it for a while, then let out a laugh.

He fetched an empty box and neatly packed everything into it.

Carrying the box out of the academic affairs office, he was just about to go downstairs when he suddenly heard several students around the corner of the corridor talking about the Xu Family.

"Did Xu Qing'an invite you to his school advancement banquet too?"

"Yeah. He invited almost everyone from our year, didn't he? That's hundreds of people. The Xu Family is really rich. But I heard something happened at his house a few days ago, so the banquet was postponed."

"Huh? What happened?"

The other speaker lowered their voice. "I only heard about it too. Apparently Xu Qing'an's mother accidentally fell down from upstairs and was taken to the hospital..."

Their voices gradually faded as they walked away.

Xu Qingran turned his attention back and went downstairs with an ordinary expression.

He had just walked out of the teaching building when a burst of brazen laughter rang out nearby.

At first, he paid it little attention, until he sensed something flying toward him.

After dodging it, he saw that it was a stone the size of a baby's fist.

He was still looking at the stone when a ducklike voice rang out beside him.

"Well, isn't this our school's most promiscuous and shameless 'outstanding student,' Xu Qingran?"

Chapter 18: A lesson

A group of young people about the same age as this body had gathered in the direction of the voice.

There were men and women among them, all dressed and carrying themselves in a fairly normal, refined manner, nothing like hooligans. Some wore expensive luxury watches, while others had costly bags slung over their shoulders. None of the looks they directed at him were friendly.

As Xu Qingran sized them up, one of them held a coffee cup and asked smugly, "Well? Don't your outstanding works look even better after we touched them up?"

When he finished speaking, the group burst out laughing again.

The system couldn't hold back and exclaimed angrily, "So they were the ones who damaged the original owner's things!"

Perfect, Xu Qingran thought. That saves me the trouble of looking for them.

He set the box he was carrying by a pillar in front of the school building, then slowly walked down the steps and asked the group, "When you say shameless, do you mean me or Xu Qing'an?"

Hearing him mention Xu Qing'an, they became even more hostile toward him.

The young man with the drake-like voice immediately shot back, "Qing'an isn't a slut like you, with his Soul Mark manifesting right on his hand, is he? Having a mark somewhere so exposed and easy to touch makes it obvious you're trying to seduce people, doesn't it?"

"Too bad for you, Senior Lu Cheng has good taste. He wasn't fooled by your pretty face."

"Is that so?" Xu Qingran asked. "Then what has Xu Qing'an been telling you about me all this time?"

The man sneered. "What? Feeling guilty? Afraid everyone will find out how you target him at home behind people's backs, bully and ostracize him, and get angry and lose your temper at him?"

"We just can't stand how you bully him because he's good-tempered. How could you have the nerve to go and make a scene at his engagement banquet?"

Xu Qingran stopped about a foot away from them and swept a calm gaze over them. The group felt that the person before them seemed a little different from usual, but couldn't say exactly what had changed.

Then Xu Qingran asked, "Did he also tell you that when I'm unhappy, I go crazy?"